da betsson： Kevin De Bruyne has revealed he had the option to team up with Jurgen Klopp at Borussia Dortmund until Jose Mourinho demanded he stay at Chelsea.

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De Bruyne could have joined Klopp's DortmundEnded up staying at Chelsea under MourinhoLeft in permanent Wolfsburg move months laterWHAT HAPPENED?

De Bruyne returned to Chelsea after a loan spell at Werder Bremen and had the opportunity to return to the Bundesliga for another temporary spell. He says joining Dortmund, then coached by Klopp, was an option, but then-Blues manager Mourinho decided to keep him at Stamford Bridge.

AdvertisementGetty WHAT DE BRUYNE SAID

He told : "I signed for Chelsea knowing that I would be loaned out the first year and if I do really well we'll see what happens. I did the pre-season, went to Werder Bremen, had a really good year. In the summer it was a little bit of a toss-up, I could have went to Dortmund with Klopp at the time or stayed, and Jose wanted me to stay. It just didn't work out, I was maybe just a little bit impatient at the time also, but I just wanted to play football."

THE BIGGER PICTURE

Despite Mourinho keeping him around, De Bruyne made just three Premier League appearances in the first half of the 2013-14 season and opted to leave to make a permanent move to Wolfsburg, where he became a star and earned a switch to Manchester City.

Asked if he felt he deserved to be in the Chelsea team before his departure, he said: "I had the confidence. I know there's a lot of good players there and that it was a top team. I understand how it also works for the young guys at every club when you get loaned out, come back, loaned out, come back, and I didn't want that situation anymore, so I just pushed a little bit to get sold and that will happen."

Getty ImagesWHAT NEXT FOR DE BRUYNE?

De Bruyne continued his ascent to one of the best playmakers in world football at City, where he has played since 2015. The Belgian attacking midfielder will hope to help fire his team to the Champions League quarter-finals when they take on Copenhagen in the second leg of their last-16 tie on Wednesday – City already lead 3-1 from the reverse fixture.